Torn ACL, ruptured medial miniscus etc

Tore my ACL few weeks ago at my 2nd last gridiron game of the season so no more deadlifts, squads etc etc.

Just wondering about UNI lateral exercises for the legs?

Is it worth me doing uni lateral exercises?? If so, what exercises and how?

I won't be able to do any full on leg work until i get my Knee Reconstruction and go through rehab. This will take ~12 months unfortunately. But during the meantime i have to do some high intensive bicycle work to strengthen the quads for the operation.

Thanks in advance!

Unilateral on just one leg?

I was under the assumption that unilateral was "one leg"?

Yeah i was right, one leg, i.e. one side

Yeah I know, but I mean, will you only be doing the exercise on the good leg?
Cos if you build up that one and the other is week imo it's probably going to be a worse result than having 2 weak legs

Ye thats fair enough, but i have been told that doing unilateral work on the good leg will also build the other some how something something bleh

Not sure how that works lol . . .

My 2c is that you should only be doing as much as your weak link can handle - in this case your dodgy knee. Having said that I'd suggest getting an opinion (or several) other than mine as I really have no experience or (much) knowledge on the matter. More just common sense that thinks it's a bad idea . . .

mroczeK said:

Tore my ACL few weeks ago at my 2nd last gridiron game of the season so no more deadlifts, squads etc etc.

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This is completely unrelated to your topic but just out of interest, which team do you play for/which state are you in?

rd78 said:

This is completely unrelated to your topic but just out of interest, which team do you play for/which state are you in?

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I played for the Claremont JETS, in Perth. Why, do you play?

Monash Warriors in Melbourne.

Nice, what position? I played corner back/outside linebacker.

Offensive Line

mroczeK said:

Nice, what position? I played corner back/outside linebacker.

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Was your injury caused by a downfield cut?

Rory is being very modest, he trains at my gym.

He just scored a full ride at University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio Texas.

He is also in the squad for the World Team. He has just returned from the States.

He is 6'8 and 143kg, at 18yo

Now back to your knee

I've had 3 clients with ACL reco's. Rest up, let the doc do his stuff. When you get the go ahead to exercise, start with light box squats, use a 45cm box to start.

As you get stronger, use more weight and lower boxes.

I have had a 100% recovery rate using this approach, one boy a quality soccer player, the other an older basketballer, and one woman

Good luck big fella

its crucial that you let the physios do their work and do your recovery exactly how they say, ice when they tell you, rehab exercises when they tell you. do it all and recovery will be a lot quicker and a better result.

Sorry to here about the injury mate, knee injuries suck ass. I was out of sports for three years when i was younger my left knee blewout, 5 operations blah blah. When i came back my left quad, calf, everything was so much weaker than my right side. It still is weaker to this day. But i don't see how doing a bit of leg press or whatever on your good leg is going to be beneficially at all. Once you've rehabbed and your back ready to do resistance training with your leg you'll be back to square one anyway.

rd78 said:

Was your injury caused by a downfield cut?

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I twisted my knee on the field, i didn't get cut, i think i only got shoved AFTER the ball was down, an opposing team shoved me on my left side but at that exact time some fucker on my team runs into the plan, bumping me from behind on my right side twisting my body, my feet stayed stationary. This only caused me injury because my knee was already tender due to a previous knee twist. Sighh

PTC said:

Rory is being very modest, he trains at my gym.

He just scored a full ride at University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio Texas.

He is also in the squad for the World Team. He has just returned from the States.

He is 6'8 and 143kg, at 18yo

Now back to your knee

I've had 3 clients with ACL reco's. Rest up, let the doc do his stuff. When you get the go ahead to exercise, start with light box squats, use a 45cm box to start.

As you get stronger, use more weight and lower boxes.

I have had a 100% recovery rate using this approach, one boy a quality soccer player, the other an older basketballer, and one woman

Good luck big fella

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Oh really? cheers for that info i will most definitely give that a go!

Thanks everyone

I completely ruptured my ACL just over 2 yrs ago playing soccer. I didn't have the medial damage that you have. I have read many different prescriptions for prehab and rehab (before operation and after operation.) Fark they differ widely.

I was strongly recommended to build as much quad, hammy and calf muscle before the operation as I could, but fuck me if it didn't all just disappear after the op anyway.

1st tip. Find the best physio and best ortho surgeon available. My physio had rehabbed around 10,000 ACLs. There were 2-4 ACL recos under rehab at any one time that I went in there, and the exercise physiologist was a past patient for same injury too.

I think someone has told you unilateral exercise is good and that they have mixed things up. I guarantee that exercising your right leg will not help your left. I am sure they mean that you are supposed to do straight line, closed chain exercises with your injured leg. No twisting etc. Bike, squat, leg press, leg curl, deadlift. Never do leg extensions again. They put too much shear on your ACL and are unnecessary. This is very important in the 12 weeks after your surgery.

Generally there are 3 choices for ACL surgery. 1 Hammy tendon, 2 Patella Tendon, 3 LARS. I had the Hammy tendon graft. Worked well and it is just time, effort, patience and pain to regrow your hammy without tearing it or the new ACL.

Also, statistics for anyone who has done one ACL mean that there is bad news for you as you are more likely to do the other one. You need to work extra hard on strengthening the good leg in all directions and do extra work on Proprioception exercises.

Tell me if you want me to shut up.

TLS, forgot to reply to this. But thank you very much for your info, helped a lot and is what i need. Still waiting another month or so before i can get the surgery, going through insurance etc xD cheers!

Dude, there's plenty of bad advice out there. Good luck.